"David Wright" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Tom <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >According to Dr. H H Shan MD, Director, Department of Social and Cross
> >Culture Psychiatry, Shanghai XuHui Mental Health Center, Shanghai,
China,
> >qigong psychosis is a culture-bound syndrome that affects believers in
> >qigong. Sometimes it occurs in people who have properly performed
qigong
> >exercises, not just inappropriate practices. The concepts of qigong are
> >not fully defined and there are more than 400 different methods of doing
> >qigong exercises. Which ones are the "proper" ones? How do you know?
> >
> >One wonders if such effects are a product of belief rather than the
> >physical effects of the exercises themselves.
>
> According to my own teacher, the confusion here is because qigong can
> refer both to the physical exercises, and to meditation -- and it's
> the latter that, when overdone, can lead to psychosis.
That contradicts some of the case histories I've found.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/china02/china0802-17.htm
Case 1: Mr. A is a 22-year-old unmarried worker. He began to learn himself
from Qigong books the "Wu Qin Xi" (exercise mimicking the gestures of five
animals) on November 26, 1984 for the treatment of lumbago. Ten days later,
he suddenly had "special cenesthesiopathy" with "Qi" flowing adversely in
the head and abdomen. When "Qi" flowed into his head, he felt fullness of
head and chest distress. When showing a Qigong gesture, he suffered agony
and anxiety, even attempting to commit suicide. Two hours later he was sent
to Shanghai Institute of Qigong for help. Guided by a Qigong master he
recovered. The next day he became delirious and claimed that he could hear
the voice of evil spirits; he prayed to Buddha for help but only lost his
self control. During the intervals of the attacks, the patient was normal.
But he could not work normally due to insomnia and difficulty in coping
with Qigong deviation.
Case 2: Mr. B is a 44-year-old married painter. He learned on his own the
"He Xiang Zhuang" (crane-flying Qigong), another school of Qigong in
February 1984, attempting to treat his ailment, the hypertrophy of cervical
vertebra. He had no personal psychiatric history, neither his family.
Several days after Qigong exercise, he was suddenly agitated with
hyperthymia. He claimed that he knew everything in the world, "water is
associated with the sea," when he talked about the sea, he would "think of
the American continent."
Three days later, he was diagnosed as schizophrenia-like disorder and was
treated in Shanghai Psychiatric Hospital. One month later he had remission.
Later he turned to learn the "Long Men Five Flow," another school of
Qigong. On the third morning he suddenly began to cry and dance, still
doing Qigong exercise in bed. He thought that his dead mother would be
brought back to life whereas he would become a ghost. He said that he could
see Buddha and God, and he believed in religion. He also smelt something
unusual. He was again admitted to Shanghai Psychiatric Hospital.
Now, I'm not familiar with these particular exercises, so I may well be
mistaken, but they seem to be physical exercises rather than strictly
meditation.